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Sleeping
For the ordinary sailor living conditions were much simpler than the Captain's cabin. Hammocks used exclusively in the early part of the century were still onboard in the 1980s.
The Navy reviewed living conditions after World War Two to help retention. Ships built in the 1950s and 1960s had increasingly more of their accommodation allocated for static bunks.
Captain's Cabin HMS Smiter (1943) (RNM)
The switch over filtered down starting with senior rates then leading hands then ordinary seaman until all sailors no matter what rank had bunks.
The first class of frigates to have all bunks for all the lower deck were the Leander class frigates built in the 1960/1970s, they were modified Type 12 fast anti-submarine frigates.
All types of warships built up to the 1960's had predominantly hammocks for junior ratings, although the amount varied with the class of vessel.
Mess Deck HMS Renown (RNM)
Although the 20th century saw the development of larger "Dreadnought" cruisers the amount of crew needed to run them also increased meaning that space was tight.
As the century went on ships sizes reduced but so did crew sizes. Today's sailors have much more space than their predecessors.
